Product description

The Alamanni and Rome focuses upon the end of the Roman Empire. From the third century AD, barbarians attacked and then overran the west. Some - Goths, Franks, Saxons - are well known, others less so. The latter include the Alamanni, despite the fact that their name is found in the French ('Allemagne') and Spanish ('Alemania') for 'Germany'. This pioneering study, the first in English, uses new historical and archaeological findings to reconstruct the origins of the Alamanni, their settlements, their politics, and their society, and to establish the nature of their relationship with Rome. John Drinkwater discovers the cause of their modern elusiveness in their high level of dependence on the Empire. Far from being dangerous invaders, they were often the prey of emperors intent on acquiring military reputations. When much of the western Empire fell to the Franks, so did the Alamanni, without ever having produced their own 'successor kingdom'.

Author information

John F. Drinkwater is Emeritus Professor of Roman Imperial History, Department of Classics, University of Nottingham.

Review quote

This is much the best book on Romano-barbarian relations published in the past decade. Michael Kulikowski, Journal of Roman Studies Drinkwater's book immediately takes its place as one of the most focused and detailed analyses of the Alamanni in existence, certainly the best available in English. Bryn Mawr Classical Review ...This book, remarkable for the depth of its consideration, is hugely rich, for the scope of its conceptions as for the multiple detailed analyses ... Alain Cahuvot, GNOMON